


The Divine Lovers

by colette_the_first



Category: Ancient Greek Religion & Lore
Genre: Multi, Zeus Being an Asshole (Ancient Greek Religion & Lore)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-04
Updated: 2021-03-15
Packaged: 2021-03-17 01:14:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,894
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29833770
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/colette_the_first/pseuds/colette_the_first
Summary: A few of the many divine lovers of Zeus.
Relationships: Demeter/Zeus (Ancient Greek Religion & Lore), Hera/Zeus (Ancient Greek Religion & Lore), Leto/Zeus (Ancient Greek Religion & Lore), Metis/Zeus (Ancient Greek Religion & Lore), Mnemosyne/Zeus (Ancient Greek Religion & Lore), Zeus/Maia (Ancient Greek Religion & Lore)
Kudos: 7





	1. Metis

Metis was first. She found Zeus when he was dirty and speckled with mud and grime. "Hey, Lightning head." she said. "I'm Metis. Nice to meet you." (Zeus would claim he hated the nickname, but she never believed him) 

Zeus was mesmerized with her. She found him amusing in the beginning. He would flirt with and flatter her ("Has anyone ever told you you are more radiant than the sun?" "Be careful, Lightning, Helios is listening!"), and many a time she caught him staring. He would blush and look away, make an excuse ("There was a mosquito on your arm!") or simply be silent. Metis never pushed the subject. After all, there was a war going on. 

Metis helped Zeus poison his father. She told him how to pour the deadly dose into Kronos' wine cup. She remembered the look on his face, more somber and stoic than she had ever seen him. When he was gone, gone to start the rebellion, gone to poison the king of the Titans, Metis felt a cold grip creeping up her heart. She put it aside. It was much later when she realized that the coldness was worry. 

Metis helped Zeus bring his siblings (so many of them, too!) back to their hiding place. She cleaned them off (they had just been vomited out of their father). The smell would last with her for days, but she didn't complain. Zeus found her after his siblings had fallen asleep and took her hands. This was the boy who, at one point, couldn't look her in the eye without being embarrassed of her catching him. "Thank you, Metis." he had whispered. "I don't know what I'd do without you." 

She looked at this boy and smiled. "Don't thank me yet, Lightning head. We have a lot more to do." 

That alone was enough to change his expression from stony to cheerful. He pulled Metis into a hug, squeezing harder when she laughed or complained ("You're going to break my ribs, you hopeless god!") 

The war lasted longer than even the Fates could imagine. Metis knew the Titans, she being one of them, would not back down to the new gods. She fought beside Zeus and his siblings and his army. Her intuition and battle planning proved vital in their victory. So did her axes. 

Metis sliced open the throat of one random monster. Her dark skin was splotched with blood, her normally well-kept hair was frizzy and hacked. She was too busy decapitating a random hydra to notice the god sneaking behind her. He grabbed Metis, holding his blade to her throat and pulling it into her skin. She screamed and tried to fight him off. He slammed his dirty hand over her mouth. Metis' bit him. He cried out and kicked her back with his knee. She could hear the crack of her spine and the pain felt like red-hot fire. The god pressed his knife into her neck. Golden Ichor began dripping. 

Suddenly, the sky split open and heavenly lightning fell from the clouds, onto Metis' attacker. He fell to the ground in an instant, in an ashy, smoky pile. Metis fell on her knees and coughed up more ichor onto the blood soaked ground. The battle was raging, but she spared a moment to look up and grin. 

They had won the war. Kronos and his allies were dead or trapped in Tartarus, under the new jurisdiction of Zeus' brother Hades. There was peace. 

Zeus found Metis in the new paradise, Olympus. She was in her office, going over what needed to be done and what needed to be changed (there was too much).

"Look at you, slaving over papers when we've just won." Zeus said, smirking, leaning on a marble pillar. 

Metis sighed. "Someone has to do the hard work, Lightning head." 

"Isn't it my king now?"

"Do you expect me to call you my king?"

"No, of course not."

"There you go, Lightning head."

"...Wouldn't you say defeating the Titans is hard work?" 

"Defeating Kronos was difficult. Rebuilding the Olympic bureaucracy will be near impossible." 

Zeus, for once, was quiet. Metis thought he had left (which made her more lonely than she'd like to admit), when a pair of arms wrapped around her shoulders from behind. Metis put the scrolls down and leaned back into his touch. 

"Metis," he whispered into her ear. "You are an angel." 

"And you are a wonder, Zeus, king of the gods." she whispered. Their lips were almost touching. She looked into those cloudy blue eyes that she had grown to adore, and closed the gap between them. They stayed like that for a while. One Olympian king and a Titaness.


	2. Metis, Part 2.

Zeus and Metis were married quietly. No large celebration or get-together. Zeus was wearing a simple gray chiton, embroidered in gold delicately and expertly by his mother Rhea. Metis borrowed her mother Tethys' bronze peplos and wore a ring of myrtle around her head.

"Zeus, King of the Olympian gods, do you promise to devote yourself and your eternal heart to Metis?" Hera asked.

"I do." Zeus replied, smiling larger than most had seen before.

Hera turned to Metis. "Metis, Goddess of good counsel, do you promise to devote yourself and your eternal heart to Zeus?"

"I do. A hundred times over." Metis said. She was grinning like a fool, but today was not a day for propriety. It was her wedding, for Tartarus' sake!

"Then I, the Goddess of marriage, announce you as husband and wife!" Hera cheered. Zeus dipped Metis and all the attending gods laughed or cried or did both. When they finally split, Zeus with his mussed hair and Metis with messed up makeup, they looked like the happiest couple in the world.

\--------

Metis became pregnant not so long after the wedding night. She could feel the beating in her chest, the little heart ready to burst out from her stomach. Zeus was ecstatic at the news. He spent all his time looking after his wife, night and day, morning and evening, when he really should have been working. Zeus called his to-be-child his "little Olympian", since it was too early on to see what gender the baby would be.

The day began just as any other had. Metis awoke early (a habit she had yet to grow out of) and dressed quickly so she could go on a morning stroll. Perhaps she would meet with Hestia (the one of Zeus' sisters she could actually tolerate. She liked Demeter and Hera, but they both had a fast and burning temper. Hestia, though she was the Goddess of the hearth, was much more mellow and soft spoken...to a beginner. Metis saw that Hestia had a sharp wit and sharper tongue, something she could appreciate). But Olympus seemed barren this beautiful morning. No gods, nymphs, or dryads to be found. It startled her.

She went up the steps to the Olympian throne room, hoping to see a friendly face, but nothing. The throne room was spotless-remarkably spotless indeed. Everything was just too perfect, to pristine. Metis could take no more of it.

Metis returned to her chambers and called upon a servant for some ambrosia. She wasn't feeling very well. The flower nymph that arrived seemed very antsy.

"Is something amiss?" Metis asked warily, taking a sip of the amber liquid.

The nymph wrung her hands. "N-no, my lady."

Metis set the cup down on her beside table and gave the nymph a dark stare. Her bright blue eyes glowed with a power no Olympian could attain. Even after marrying Zeus, Metis remained a titaness. "What are you not telling me?"

The nymph gulped. "His majesty, King Zeus, has visited the Oracle of Delphi. A-apparently the news w-was not to his liking. He destroyed the throne room and l-left Olympus for the mortal world."

Metis jerked her head upwards. "What did you say about my husband?"

"H-his majesty Zeus is no longer on Olympus-"

"Not that. About the Oracle. Why on Gaia's earth was he at the Oracle of Delphi?" Metis questioned incredulously, more to herself than the servant.

The nymph responded with as much confidence as she could. "W-well, I heard from Maia that Zeus wanted to know the future of his child. But, from what I c-can tell, he must of not liked the news..." she trailed off. It would be a bad idea for a simple nymph to gain the wrath of such a powerful titaness like Metis.

Metis sighed angrily. "That is enough." The nymph scampered off, happy to be alive. If it had been another god, she might have been killed. 

Metis could not wait the rest of the day for her husband to return. If he was unhappy, so be it. This child was their child, born from her blood and his. She sat back down at her-well, his-desk and continued reading the reports sent in by Poseidon and Hades (they were supposed to be for Zeus, but who cared? Metis could get the work done as fast as any god). Hades' letter explained the current situation regarding the recent rebellion in Tartarus. Metis didn't know Hades very well, as he was quite standoffish, but she sympathized with him. Poseidon's report happily acknowledged his new fiance, Amphitrite, daughter of Nereus. Metis was amused at the differences between the two letters, but drafted a hearty response anyhow.

To somber Hades, she sent praise on how he was handling the situation, and offered the Hecatoncheires as assistance if it became necessary. To Poseidon, she gave words of congratulations to him and Amphitrite, and mentioned how if they wanted to have the marriage on Olympus it would be allowed. (She knew they would probably refuse, but it was just the formality of the offer that mattered)

Metis finished the rest of Zeus' work by nightfall. She had not eaten much throughout the day, dedicating herself to finishing what she had started. And it was no matter, she was a titaness, she could handle it.

Zeus reappeared in their bedroom late that night. He was mad, it was clear on his face.

Metis stood up to greet him and demand answers but he turned away. "Metis." he said finally. "I...I have consulted the Oracle of Delphi-"

"I know this." Metis interjected. "You went to see what future our child will have, no?"

He whipped his head around. "Who told you that?" he demanded.

"No one of importance." Metis replied icily.

Zeus closed his eyes and took a long breath. "Metis."

"Yes, Lightning head?" Metis said, trying to lighten the mood. Zeus did not smile. He did not laugh or joke, tease or grin. He now looked...sad. 

"The Oracle of Delphi told me that you and I would have two children. One, our first, would be a daughter. The one you are currently carrying. The second would be a son who would grow to be stronger than his father."

The words sunk in. Metis eyes' widened. "Don't do this, Zeus, please."

He stepped forward. "You have fought with me. Ruled alongside me. Did my work for me," he said, motioning to the papers on her desk. "And I will be eternally grateful. But I cannot...I cannot have a child who could one day overthrow me. It-it would be too much of a risk."

Metis was crying now. Salty tears flew down her face. "Oh gods, Zeus, you're going to kill me." she whispered.

Zeus shook his head. "No. No, I would never do that. I-I will-"

"Turn me into mist? Burn me till I am ash, then throw my remains into a volcano?" Metis questioned. "Do it, then, Zeus, do it. Make it quick."

Zeus now also had tears streaming down his face. "I am so sorry." he begged.

Metis, in a fit of passion, threw herself at Zeus and hugged him tightly. If she was going to die at her lovers' hands, the last thing she would remember would be his embrace. "I know." she whispered, almost silently. "I know. I know. I know." Zeus buried his head in the crook of her neck and sobbed. He closed his eyes. Slowly, Metis' body disappeared, absorbed into him. He held on for as long as he could, wishing she was still there, wishing she was still there to help him and to hold him.

When he opened his eyes and dropped his arms, she was gone.


	3. Hera

Hera never intended to marry Zeus. She was never close with her little brother like she was close with her sisters, and even then she had a strained relationship with Demeter and Hestia. Ever since she was puked up by Kronos, Hera noticed the connection between her brother and that titaness Metis. Hera was cunning, and would do many things for power, but never once in her mind did she act on a plan to marry Zeus. Did she hope to marry him one day? Yes, obviously. Matrimony with the King of the Gods was a one-way ticket to glory and influence. But Zeus had Metis. And Hera did not plan to piss off Metis. 

But Metis was now gone. And though no one spoke of it (because people like to keep their spinal cords intact), it was plain to see that Zeus was missing his normal cheer. He would loudly and emotionally complain of Metis' absence to anyone who would listen (mostly Poseidon, who had returned from the seas for some reason) (fiance troubles? Probably fiance troubles). But Hera wondered if Zeus actually cried himself to sleep out of pain or wept in front of Metis' shrine out of penance. Whatever the answer was, there was a spot of Hera now.

It took two weeks for Zeus to mourn Metis. It took him seventeen days to send the hecatoncheires to the underworld. It took him three months to help plan Poseidon's wedding (and give him awful advice on how to help his relationship with Amphitrite. Hera took pity on Poseidon and gave him actual guidance from the goodness of her heart-Just kidding, she wanted him in her debt). 

Hera came across Zeus alone in the gardens. She caressed his face with her soft hands, looked up at him with her shining hazel eyes, and smiled coquettishly. It took only that. The thunder in his eyes turned to reckless, immortal desire. Needless to say, the two of them didn't get much sleep that night. 

They married in an extravagant ceremony. Hera felt a pang in her heart, reminding her that less than a year ago, it was Metis standing in her place. 

This time, they partied until the daylight thinned and after the sun fell below the horizon. Olympus was full of gods, minor gods, titan allies, and too many more creatures to count. Hera tried not to notice that Oceanus and Tethys were absent. Zeus didn't have to try to pretend. He was busy getting drunk with some rowdy centaurs. Hera also ignored that. She chatted with Amphitrite, looking almost too beautiful in a deep blue dress dripping in gold. She drank with Demeter, who was fuming and trying awfully to hide it by getting high on nectar. Hera got some wind nymphs to look after her. She avoided Hestia and her piercing ruby eyes. She avoided Hades and his melancholy figure. She tried expertly to avoid Poseidon, who eventually roped her in to a game of poison darts. Eventually, when light began creeping back up on the horizon, Hera led a passed-out Zeus back to their chambers to sleep. 

Their marriage was full of bliss for the first decade. They sat side by side in the throne room, lips on lips when alone. Hera didn't admit to loving Zeus (she didn't really) but she could admit that she lusted for him. His kisses, the not-so-soft grip of his hands, his perfect grin. It wasn't the loving and tender marriage Metis had with Zeus, but it had a stubborn type of invincibility. The marriage you were jealous of. At least, at first. 

Hera knew the reason why Metis fell. Why she had to go. Hera hadn't known her well, but she would learn from Metis' mistakes. Hera liked to think the Titaness of good council would agree with her. So Hera used the glowing power she received as a child to her advantage: until she was two hundred percent certain that there was no secret prophecy against her future children, she would not conceive. Her future children were her life, she would love them with all her heart, and she couldn't let some oracle take them away from her. Metis didn't fight the prophecy. She would. 

After thirteen years of marriage and updates from her spies, the nymphs that occupied the oracle's home, the ones she had coerced or bribed into loyalty, Hera decided it would be alright to conceive. Soon after, Hera, Goddess of marriage and family, wife of Zeus, fell pregnant.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!


	4. Mnemosyne

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mnemosyne's time with Zeus.

Mnemosyne was there before the Olympians. She remembers looking up at the perfect night sky under the reign of her father, Ouranos. She remembers looking down upon the earth on Mount Othrys, the home of Kronos. She remembers the grand weddings of Zeus and Poseidon almost too well. Alas, as the Goddess of Memory, Mnemosyne cannot pick and choose which recollections take up space in her mind. Thanks to that, she has knowledge of many minuscule details and afterthoughts and smidgens of gossip, all things she'd like to ignore. But this is her duty, and she is in no means capable of defying it. 

One such memory that haunts her brain is the affair (if you could call it that) she engaged in with Zeus. 

It was exactly one year, two months, and seventeen days after the sky god's second marriage. Mnemosyne was sitting outside her temple in Pieria, like she did every day, welcoming townsfolk to come bring her news. Yesterday the king's wife gave birth to a child, the next day a new granary was built, a few hours later the flirtations between the baker's son and a young nobleman became so passionate that the baker's son's sister had to run over and tell Mnemosyne all about it. 

The people felt secure knowing their memories would be shared with her, and as long as she lived (which would be a very long time) those memories would remain. 

A few minutes after the baker's daughter left her temple, a few minutes after the sun had set, an indistinguishable man trotted in on a beautiful stallion. Mnemosyne's dark green eyes looked over the horse, being sure to remember it and all its glory. 

The man stopped and dismounted. He walked towards where Mnemosyne sat, waiting, on the temple steps. He bowed. "I beg an audience with the lovely and eternal goddess of this city, auburn-haired Mnemosyne, who's alluring face remembers all."

Mnemosyne cocked her head to the side. "Your most humble request is granted. What is it you have to say?" 

The man boldly sat on the steps beside the goddess, where she got to get a better look at his face. He had black, or perhaps very dark brown hair, and a matching beard. He had passionate blue eyes and features. Mnemosyne nearly blushed at the way his eyes looked about her. 

"My lady. I come from a kingdom miles (if not years) away, ruled by a powerful king with a dark soul. This king has sent me on a journey to all the distant states in search of the most beautiful person in all of Greece. When I meet this person, who's beauty humbles even the stars, he demands I bring them back to him for he to marry. But I dislike my king, great as he may be. No mortal woman or man could ever rival the exquisite beauty of the gods! I planned to leave my task and employ myself in a more righteous way. Yet, when I heard the goddess Mnemosyne was living among mortals, I was most intrigued. I found you, my lady, outside your temple, shining in radiance and so lovely I had to meet you." 

(There was more to this ballad, but they were not for the ears of anyone but Mnemosyne) 

"...You have enchanted me. You are certainly the loveliest being I have met." the man whispered. Mnemosyne, very flattered, could not think of an appropriate answer from all the romantic stories she had been told. She simply stood up and allowed the man to walk inside the silent temple. 

This practice remained for nine more nights. The man would come to the temple steps after dark, they would retreat into the temple until daylight, and he would leave in the morning. The man had many stories to tell his godly lover, which kept her well entertained. 

On the afternoon of the tenth day, Mnemosyne sat on her temple steps, waiting for the usual visitors. A certain traveler remained on her mind, but that did not stop her from listening to other tales. 

This time it was the priest who came. He used a wooden walking cane and wore an old gray chiton. His news were usually about the Olympic affairs (no pun intended). 

"And the godly queen, golden-haired Hera, is in uproar about the recent and unusual coldness of her husband..." the priest recounted. 

Mnemosyne sighed. Again, temperamental Zeus proved himself the bane of poor Hera's deathless life. 

"Our king of the gods, Zeus, ruler of the skies and of thunder, has left his queen's bed for nine nights, for an unknown reason..." 

Mnemosyne raised a hand to silence the priest. Nine nights. The cold, horrible, despicable truth found itself attacking Mnemosyne from all sides. Ah, she thought. So it is him. He is my lover. But he will not be my lover any more. 

The priest trembled, worried he had somehow offended the titaness. That would be a grave mistake. But Mnemosyne said nothing. 

"Priest," she finally said, voice harder and more solemn than her usual calm detachment. "How does a woman find out if she is pregnant?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!


	5. Mnemosyne's Daughters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The nine daughters of Mnemosyne (Also known as the Nine Muses).

"Hello, my child." Mnemosyne whispered to the crying baby in her arms. 

"She's beautiful and perfectly healthy," Rhea said, wiping the beads of sweat from Mnemosyne's forehead. "What will you name her?" 

"Calliope," Mnemosyne finally said. "Her name is Calliope."

Rhea smiled. "A good name for a young goddess."

A goddess. Her daughter was a goddess. Heavens be praised, she bore a daughter of Zeus.

Mnemosyne did not have a lot of time to spend with her new daughter. The next day she gave birth again, and the day after that, and the day after that. She was exhausted. Eight more children. Nine babies in total. 

Rhea stayed with her sister for a time. Mnemosyne jokingly made Rhea swear not to take her children while she recovered. But honestly, she needed the help. 

Her daughters (for all of them were girls) grew quickly, very quickly. They walked and talked at a year old. They broke dishes and scared the livestock, destroyed pottery and caused general godly mayhem. Mnemosyne, annoyed as she was, enjoyed the moments where her children got to be just that-children. (She felt sorry for her sister, Rhea, who lost the chance of raising her own young) 

As they grew older, and changed from reckless youngsters to moody teenagers, Mnemosyne noticed her daughters gaining separate and unique skills. For example,

Calliope, the eldest child, had always loved her mother's stories. Now that she had an access to many more libraries, she devoured crumbly ancient poetry and distant folk tales. Calliope complained once that she felt the average libraries were not organized or categorized enough to her liking, so Mnemosyne suggested she create her own. Calliope quickly acted upon that idea. Many moons later, the Library of One was constructed and opened to invite-only guests (not including her mother or sisters, who got a free pass for all eternity).

Clio, the second daughter, tagged alongside the eldest. But when they became young adults, her interests shifted away from Calliope's. While the eldest preferred stories, Clio loved history. She was particularly enthralled with Herodotus, but did notice that his book left out many details and was more of a patchwork than an actual history book. Clio decided to make her own history novella, with some help by her mother and aunts. (Themis gave excellent impartial information, something Mnemosyne envied) When Clio finished her book, she announced it would be the first history book written by a goddess. 

Erato was always interested in love. She fell in love once, lost that love, and wept for days. Then she got up, dressed, and left the house to find love again. After Mnemosyne had to turn down another of her daughter's "suitors" at the door, she gave Erato a long talk. ("Daughter, if you think "love" is your motivator for going out and falling in strangers' arms, you do not understand what love is.") After this, Erato promised to find what love truly meant. She spent days and nights writing love poetry and love songs. She compiled her work into a single manuscript and gave it as a present to the new Goddess of Love, Aphrodite. Aphrodite praised Erato's poetry for its tear wrenching lines and heart swelling couplets. 

Euterpe was a singer. Since she was born, music was her rhythm. Her melody. Mnemosyne gave Euterpe all the instruments in the known world to use, and did she use them. The house soon became a cacophony of song. Calliope created a soundproof barrier to stop the "noise" from distracting her work. Euterpe scoffed that anyone could dislike music and continued playing. She played in the town tavern. She sang in the bar. She hummed in the hallways. She sang in the shower. She cultivated her voice and her instruments into pieces of precision and beauty that rivaled the love stories in Erato's works. When Apollo was born, she played music to him as well. 

Melpomene was not always a sad, mopey, depressed girl. She laughed with Thalia and danced with Terpsichore. But Melpomene noticed the fine line of reality more than anyone expected. The death of a friend, neighbor, servant, or even enemy, made her rethink what life was. Arguments with her sisters', even over the most minuscule things, left her contemplative. Watching a heart be broken made her sorrowful. These emotions, however sad or melancholy, made their way into her writings and into her stories. Mnemosyne said her works were filled to the brim with truth and lies, lust and death, hope and hate. 

Polyhymnia was quiet. As a child she was definitely not silent (Mnemosyne can confirm) but not as loud as some of her other sisters. The sisters Polyhymnia were closest with was Erato and Euterpe, even if she thought Erato's poems were a bit too lengthy and Euterpe's songs a bit lacking in words. She liked them anyways. They inspired her to write her first real hymn, dedicated to her mother. Soon Polyhymnia found she liked making hymns. She made them as gifts and for fun. For their birthday (the largest event in Mnemosyne's calendar) she presented some of her favorite hymns to her family. 

Terpsichore danced. To anything. To the clanging of pots and pans, to the chirping of birds outside her bedroom window, to the arguing between her sisters. She didn't need to hear music to dance. She swayed and fell as a toddler, something her mother never forgets to bring up. Now she danced gracefully, perfectly, even. Terpsichore loved all types of dance, from ballet to tap to jazz. She performed alongside Euterpe. Some villagers said her dancing could bring forth the rain, so occasionally she danced in the town square just to watch them run around with buckets. One time it actually did rain, and her mother never forgets to bring that up. 

Thalia could laugh for days and never stop. As a baby, she giggled at anything and everything. Soon she learned it was more fun to make people laugh. Thalia could make the blandest of things sound hilarious and make the saddest of things sound funny. It was her so-called "hidden talent". Mnemosyne once found Terpsichore in the underworld (how she got there is unknown, but Mnemosyne has a sneaking suspicion it has to do with Clio, an owl, and a dare) making all the dead souls laugh out of their skin (pun intended). She even made Hades chuckle, though he'd never admit it. Thalia loved making others laugh so much it she called it her life's work.

Urania was born under a starry sky. As she grew, it was clear she enjoyed the clear view of the night. Mnemosyne used to point out the constellations to her, and now Urania would point out others to her mother. The youngest daughter spent many a night staying up with Calliope or whichever sister was awake, looking at the stars and the moon. One day she went outside to stargaze. She mentioned that she couldn't see the stars so well when they were so far away from her, so Mnemosyne pulled in a couple favors and got Selene to give Urania a ride on her chariot. When they arrived back the next sunrise, Urania was positively beaming.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!


End file.
